An 18-year-old woman who turned up in the heart of New York City two weeks ago with apparent amnesia is a Kitsap County teen who was reported missing on Oct. 2, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.

Kacie Peterson, who was reported missing from Hansville, a small town north of Kingston, was picked up by New York City police outside a shelter near Times Square on Oct. 9, authorities said. It's unclear how the 18-year-old woman traveled to New York from her home near Kingston, said Kingston County sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson.

Over the past several hours, New York police and Kingston County sheriff's investigators have identified Peterson as the memory-impaired woman, Wilson said. Peterson's family has flown to New York to bring her home.

New York City's Administration for Children's Services has been housing Peterson but officials there declined to comment today.

The New York Post reported Saturday that the break in the case came in a call to the NYPD tip hotline from an as-yet-unidentified caller.

Wilson said there have been multiple confirmations that the woman in custody in New York is indeed the woman missing from the Kingston-area. He said the missing person's report is now closed.

When Peterson was found in New York she was wearing tattered clothing and didn't have identification.

A shelter spokesman told the Post the woman wasn't a resident at the shelter and workers didn't recognize her.

"I just want to know who I am," Children's Services quoted the teen as saying last week. "I want to know who I am and what happened to me."

Authorities said the teen told them she had no memories of her name, home or family. Police experts and psychiatrists didn't believe she was faking.

After finding the teen, Children's Services teamed up with the NYPD and law-enforcement agencies nationwide in an attempt to identify her. Children's Services said the teen wrote down the name "Amber" and, at one point, responded to the name, but last week officials were unsure if that was her real name.

Peterson did recall some words from the fantasy novel "Fool's Fate" by best-selling author Robin Hobb. She also told authorities she'd been writing a fantasy story featuring a heroine named Rian.

She had no problem doing the math portion of study materials for a GED exam but had no memory of the history or science materials, authorities said.

Wilson said that Peterson has a history of memory loss. He said that the woman's father, who lives in Colville, in northeast Washington, told investigators that she once vanished from the family home and when she was later found, lying on the ground near a stream, she couldn't remember how she got there.

Peterson's father reported her missing to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office on Oct. 2, Wilson said. Peterson's father has been in contact with Kitsap County law enforcement and is aware that his daughter has been located in New York.

Peterson moved to Hansville from Colville in the last several months to live with her late mother's best friend, Wilson said. Peterson had attended Kingston High School part-time, Wilson added.

Seattle Times reporter Emily Heffter contributed to this report.